The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for shielding a patient during a medical operation. More particularly this invention concerns an operating table as well as a method of and apparatus for shielding a patient thereon from bacteria.
It is known to make attempts to protect areas of the type in question, for instance the area of an operating table, against entry of air-borne bacteria and other contaminants, such as dust and the like. For this purpose the air which has access to the area to be protected is filtered; nevertheless, experience has shown that while the quantity of contaminants that reaches the area to be protected can be reduced in this manner, it is not possible to completely preclude the entry of air-borne bacteria and other contaminants with this approach.
To this end it is known to install in an operating room a blower which directs a single stream of sterilized air above and across the platform of the operating table so that the stream of sterilized air prevents germs in the surrounding area from reaching the patient resting on the platform in the course of an operation or other type of treatment. Such mode of shielding the patient is quite satisfactory as long as the air stream is not interrupted, for example, by the hand(s) and/or arm(s) of the surgeon and/or his or her assistant(s). Once the air stream is interrupted, germs from the surrounding atmosphere can penetrate into the area above the platform of the operating table. Since the air stream is most likely to be interrupted in the region where the surgeon makes an incision or removes bandages from an unhealed wound, the aforedescribed equipment cannot prevent bacteria and/or other germs from reaching and eventually infecting the wound.